The Annual Report contained some interesting statistics, such as the fact that less than 1% of complaints in the last year were filed anonymously, and nearly 63% were filed by the clients themselves or by the clients’ family members or friends. The bulk of the complaints were filed against attorneys who are sole practitioners (38.8%) or in law firms (35.17%), with corporate counsel and mediators/arbitrators comprising the least complained about practice types, at less than 1% each.

Several disciplinary cases were notable for the criminal violations involved, ranging from the unfortunately all-too-common (hiding of assets), to the bizarre (indecent exposure), to the unbelievable (lawyers trying to kill other lawyers). Apparently negotiation and problem-solving skills are not as universally possessed or practiced as one would hope. Many cases involved substance abuse as a contributing factor, and the South Carolina Bar is a great source of assistance for lawyers needing help.

Lastly, on the topic of recent rule revisions and proposals, Barbara noted that in August 2011, the South Carolina Supreme Court revised Rule 7.1 to permit, in limited circumstances, the use of testimonials in lawyer advertising. The Court has also begun the first phase of implementing electronic filing in South Carolina courts by creating the Attorney Information System (“AIS”), an electronic database with contact information for attorneys licensed in South Carolina. All Bar members were required to register with AIS online prior to renewing their dues for 2012.

As always, Barbara provided a wealth of information and much-appreciated ethics credits as a benefit to our SCWLA members. For those who missed this wonderful opportunity and would like more information on the matters mentioned above or who have any questions on the disciplinary process, please contact Barbara Seymour at the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, (803) 734-1419.

-Karen Huelson, S.C. Supreme Court

Libby Anne Inabinet

The SCWLA Midlands area held its December holiday luncheon on December 2, 2011 at Columbia’s Summit Club. Libby Anne Inabinet, Regional Chief Development Officer for the American Red Cross, Columbia Region, was our guest speaker. She is a South Carolina native and has over twenty years of nonprofit experience, and she was also a teacher in the Richland County area for nineteen years. Among her many accomplishments, Libby Anne opened the first office of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic in South Carolina and served as its first State Director. In her introduction, Cindy Ouzts noted that Libby Anne has received numerous awards for her outstanding charitable work and services to the community.

The worldwide International Red Cross and Red Crescent network was originally formed after a Swiss businessman, Henry Dunant, witnessed a battle in 1859 outside the Italian town of Solferino. He set out to organize care for those wounded in war. At an International Conference in 1864, representatives of sixteen European states and four philanthropic institutions adopted the first Geneva Convention, a treaty to save lives and alleviate the suffering of wounded or sick military personnel. The red cross, a reversal of the Swiss flag’s white cross on a red background, was designated as the symbol to identify medical personnel and facilities and their neutral status. The 1864 Geneva Convention became the foundation of what is now known as international humanitarian law (IHL), which encompasses humanitarian principles and international treaties directed at helping both combatants and noncombatants during armed conflicts.

Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881. Libby Anne stated the relief offered by the American Red Cross has expanded over time, and it now encompasses help in five major areas: (1) Biomedical Services (including the delivery of medical supplies), (2) International Disasters (recent examples include Japan and Haiti), (3) Local Disasters (relief from apartment fires and other events, which occur locally every eight hours), (4) Services to the Armed Forces, and (5) Health, Safety, and Youth Education Programs (including a training program for babysitters, CPR instruction, and swimming lessons). The American Red Cross still oversees the vital function of blood donation, and Libby Anne gave a very moving account of how one of her sons was saved by blood donations. He is now healthy and is a sophomore at the University of South Carolina, where another son plays football for the Gamecocks. She noted the Tiffany Circle Society of Women Leaders helps support the humanitarian mission of the American Red Cross.

Libby Anne was a very gracious speaker and the perfect representative for such a worthwhile organization, which has touched lives in this community and beyond. For more information on the programs and services of the American Red Cross and how you can help, please contact Libby Anne at InabinetLib@usa.redcross.org, (803) 540-1220 (business) or (803) 309-3069, or at P.O. Box 91, Columbia, SC 29202 (the physical street address is 2751 Bull Street). Happy Holidays!

-Karen Huelson, S.C. Supreme Court

Remarks given by Martha Dicus, Bissell Reception on October 21, 2011, Columbia, South Carolina

Hosted by South Carolina Women Lawyers Association at Nexsen Pruet Law Firm

Thank you everyone for your kind introductions. My friend Anne Bryan taught me what to say when you are introduced like this, with so many compliments: “Taint so, but how I do love to hear it. So, taint so, but I do love to hear it.”

For this award, for this lovely event, thank you to SCWLA and its President Liz Zeck, and its officers/board members, to members of the Bissell Award Committee, and to sponsors. Thank you all, SCWLA members, and my friends and colleagues, guests, for coming.

I am in such awe of the people here and didn’t know quite how to properly address it. I am not in the same league with many people here and I feel like when I name off people here and the prior Bissell winners, I sound like I am playing that word game of “What is Wrong with this List?” You give a list of words and all of them go together but for one word: pink, aqua, fuchsia, teal, lilac, azure, bacon. Which one doesn’t fit?!

Here it is more like – important woman, brilliant person, internationally-known lawyer -and then after including Martha Dicus on the list of prior winners, a clown horn blows. But I have readjusted my thoughts and taken the point of view that you all present, and that you all who are prior winners, rather than making me look out of place, make me look like I am in your league. That is how I am going to play my name being on this list!

I also want, in these preliminary remarks, to recognize a couple of people who will remain unnamed but they know who they are. They are several of my friends who pushed very hard for me to receive this award. And to them I want to say, “Thank you.” And I will make it my mission to make sure you each win a prestigious award, with a reception in front of internationally-known people and judges, in a ceremony where you have to make remarks, and I will make sure this happens for you in the month you have lost all your hair. That is my promise to you!

Everyone has been very complimentary on my wig. And people say, your hair will grow back prettier, and thicker, and curlier. But since I have been trying to still rock the dyed blonde look for about 30 years, I always say back, “Well, yes, maybe. But will it grow back blonde? That is what I really need.”

I have been nervous about accepting this award as my contributions are really modest compared to many in this room. Especially when the emphasis is on women lawyers. My interest has been the poor in SC. If we put the emphasis on the poor in my state, I can at least point to 30 years of being a legal aid lawyer or a Public Defender, not a brilliant appellate lawyer who may change the law for many, but just a front line “represent you in your shoplifting case, try to get your refrigerator back” lawyer.

Cam Currie wrote me a congratulatory letter and made me feel more comfortable accepting the Bissell Award and I am going to use what she said to speak a few minutes. Judge Currie said you have spent your life serving the needs of the least of us, and in doing that you have shown young women that it is a valuable, rewarding, worthy, and now very recognized career path. I hope my remarks convey the value of working in SC poverty law and sustain women lawyers in similar fields, and inspire other women lawyers to try my path.

The Bissell Award is the cherry on the sundae. To be a public interest lawyer – a lawyer for the poor of South Carolina – is treat enough. To be recognized and praised for it is more reward than one person should get.

I have a full speech I have given before on the joys of being a public interest lawyer. It takes the Aristotelian definition of happiness, weaves it together with Presbyterian theologian Frederick Beuchner’s discussion of vocation, and then intertwines several Joseph Campbell myths – all done in such a way as it becomes obvious that being a Public Defender or Legal Aid lawyer is the only thing anyone could logically want to do with one’s life. In my mind the speech makes the CEO of Coca Cola leave his corporate boardroom immediately for Atlanta Legal Aid, which, by the way, the Georgia Governor Roy Barnes did. This isn’t the forum for me to give that full talk but let me pull two highlights from that speech and tell you why it is especially wonderful to be a poverty public interest lawyer.

Public defending is such a gratifying profession. Public Defender clients are the most powerless people in our nation. Likewise their family and friends are the most powerless people in the nation. They were born with the smallest slice of the American pie. By the very nature of qualifying for a Public Defender, they fall below established poverty guidelines. They have no access to the halls of power. They may tell us sometimes they are going to write the Governor, or someone they believe to be equally powerful, about this or that injustice but no Governor or Senator I know of, except maybe Jimmy Carter, has really ever received a letter from a county jail and gotten interested.

It is only YOU, the Public Defender, sitting with your client in a county jail looking into his eyes, hearing his story, it is you who is the one person who gets the client’s story heard. And you probably don’t do it in a dramatic courtroom revelation, in a suspense-filled trial like some television shows would have you believe. It is more likely you get the client’s story heard in quieter, more every-day work ways like meeting with the prosecutor and humanizing your client, softening the police officer up by telling the police office your client’s story, or using your client’s life story as mitigation in a plea with the judge. Regardless of how you use your client’s story, you are the one who gets his story out and you are the only one with the ability to make others care about him. That is such a responsibility and such a privilege.

I had a client who was older (not older than me though!), from Wadmalaw Island, and had a long history of mostly petty, all most exclusively non-violent crime. When I was with him, getting his plea ready, I knew the State, as the solicitors are charged to do, would tell the bad parts about my client, so I worked with him on painting a picture of the more good parts, the more interesting parts – what it was like to grow up on a sea island in the 1950s, to leave school in the second grade to work with mother and father on the farm, what the sea islands were like then and the changes he had seen over the past 50 years of living in this unique place. I told him here is what I am going to say, and while, of course, speaking to his current shoplifting crime – but mostly painting a picture for the judge of the life he had growing up in the Gullah culture. My client listened intently to my sanitized version of his life. When I finished he said, like a child hearing a fairy tale, he said softly – “Tell it again, Miss Dicus, Tell it again.” He liked the story of his life with the bad parts soft peddled and the unique parts emphasized. It is the PDs job to get that side of the story out. To be the one trusted with getting a client’s story out is humbling, it is rewarding, it is a privilege, it is powerful. Hundreds of PDs statewide sit with clients in lonely county jails cell, listen to their stories and are given this trust by the client of getting their whole story out to the world, of telling their story in such a way as to make others care about the client.

From one of the loftiest reasons for being a Public Defender to one of the most lighthearted.

It is just an out and out fun job. Philip Simmons, who recently died, was a ninety- something year old nationally-known gate maker and blacksmith in Charleston. He said he started out when he was just a young boy by working in the blacksmith shop. It was where he wanted to be because it was where the action was. Sparks were flying, horses were kicking, carts and folks were coming in all day. It was the meeting hub of Charleston in the early 1900s. As a Public Defender, you are in the courthouse all day. It is the modern day hub of a community’s life. People, events, bustle, reporters, sparks flying. A Public Defender is where the action is.

Along the same line, it is fun because the Public Defender’s Office is a gathering place of new young lawyers and fresh ideas. New lawyers are still excitedly idealistic and enthusiastic in their pursuit of justice. All day in PD offices you hear heels clicking hurrying down the hall and you see people running out office doors with ties flying, saying, “Can you come help me argue this motion?” Subpoenas are being served, alibi witnesses are coming in drunk, offices are filled with clients, witnesses and loud voices proclaiming innocence. Snatches of conversations float between offices: “Mr. Dunaway, you’ve been such a good Public Defender for me. I sure hope it helps you get into law school.”

All this meaningful work, all this fun. And now, I am being recognized and praised for it. The Bissell Award is surely the cherry on top of the already overflowing, delicious sundae of being a Public Defender.

I want to depart these previous subjects and say one more thing. This has little to do with being a PD, or even with being a lawyer. In fact, what I am going to say sometimes is hard to square with being a lawyer. To be a good attorney one is always concerned with what happened yesterday on a case, and with planning for what will go on tomorrow. These following comments are more about what I have tried to do my whole life but what I have especially and ardently tried to do now, facing my illness: live in the moment; enjoy each moment; don’t let regret about yesterday or worry about tomorrow rob you of happiness in the present. My sister, brother, sister-in-law and Rhett have helped me do this very important thing – but it is a very hard thing to do too. But the present is all each of us know that we have.

Many people talk about living in the moment. The writers who write about this principle of living range from the most trite advice givers to the great philosophers to rock and rollers. Norman Vincent Peale writes (I hate to say this; I put him in the trite writer category, but remember, trite can also be true) that you need to live in “day tight compartments.” Rocker Warren Zevon writes, “Enjoy every sandwich.” Playwright Thornton Wilder in The Skin of Our Teeth has a character say, “My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate.” The loveliest way of expressing this thought is ee cummings’ “Wherelings, Whenlings.” In case you are like me and it takes a few readings of a poem to get it, let me help. I am prone to going, “I will be happy if…” and “I could be happy but for…” Well, let me tell what ee cummings says:

wherelings, whenlings
(daughters of if but offspring of hopefear
sons of unless and children of almost)
never shall guess the dimension of

him whose
each
foot likes the
here of this earth

whose both
eyes
love
this now of the sky

I wish you all, I wish me, the appreciation of the here of this earth, this now of the sky.

On her latest excursion, Kathy and her husband took a cruise on the Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 from New York to Cape Town, South Africa. She stated Cunard ships have sailed for over 170 years, and there are currently three ships in the fleet, all of which are less six years old or newer: the Queen Mary 2, the Queen Victoria, and the Queen Elizabeth. Each year Cunard schedules a 4-month world cruise, but it also offers it in individual segments, if desired. Kathy’s segment on the Queen Mary 2 carried 2,500 passengers from over 40 countries, with the majority being British, as well as half again that number of crew. The cruise began in New York and included stops in Barbados, and thereafter Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Montevideo, Uruguay, before crossing the South Atlantic to Cape Town, South Africa, a total journey from New York of over 10,000 miles. During the one-week crossing to their final destination, they passed Tristan da Cunha, the most remote inhabited island in the world (with 220 residents). The island is located in the middle of the South Atlantic between Montevideo and Cape Town. Kathy noted Cape Town is dominated by Table Mountain, and its Nobel Square has statutes of the four South African Nobel Peace Prize winners–Nelson Mandela, FW De Klerk, Desmund Tutu, and Albert Luthuli. The nearby town of Stellenbosch has over 200 wineries. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful presentation by Kathy and her descriptions of going on this segment of the world tour, including visitors to our luncheon from the League of Women Voters. We hope Kathy will take us along (vicariously) on her next adventure! As always, her presentation was a real highlight for our Midlands members.

-Karen Huelson, S.C. Supreme Court

As a benefit to all mentors and protégés, the Mentoring Committee hosted an event with these accomplished SCWLA women on Monday, November 7th. These conversations involved a candid discussion over lunch about the practice of law and included tips that every female attorney needs to know. The panel discussed time management, learning to say “no”, working with clients, the importance of a career path, and how to separate the professional from the personal.

The Mentoring Committee will hold a series of these “conversations” throughout the year as a benefit to its members. If you are interested in becoming a mentor or protégé, please check the SCWLA website. www.scwla.org

I am extremely grateful to be one of the first recipients of the SCWLA’s scholarship to attend the Southeastern Institute for Women in Politics training workshop. I left the training feeling empowered and inspired. The training provided the nuts and bolts of running for office and winning! The presenters were very knowledgeable in their respective areas, which included academics, campaign consultants, and a former woman House member.

The day began with a very informative session on statistics relating to women running for office and the very encouraging find that women are more likely to win if they run. While women are more likely to win if they run, they often time feel less qualified to run than their male counterparts and are less likely to make the decision to run.

During the training we learned how to manage a campaign and how to develop our platforms. We also learned how to organize and gather campaign support and fundraising strategies. A highlight of the day was learning how to use social media and the internet in campaigning. We learned how programs such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other communities can be instrumental in finding and connecting with supporters and potential supporters.

The training attendees included women from various backgrounds, some of whom had run for office and held positions on their local county councils and school boards. It was great to be surrounded by women who had already ran for office and were looking to take their leadership a step further and who could share nuggets of wisdom with the group. The training has made me more confident in reaching my future professional goals of one day empowering, through training, women in the developing world in their bids for political office.

I am a pro bono lobbyist and the State Chair for CARE USA, an international humanitarian organization whose mission is to eradicate global poverty through focusing on the educational and health needs of women and girls. I have volunteered on several political campaigns and served as a community organizer in North Carolina for the last general election. I have observed elections in Azerbaijan and Kosovo. I currently serve as diversity fellow at the Charleston School of Law and will begin work as a legal advisor in Turkey for refugees from Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan beginning in November 2011.

Courtney and Joey provided our group with much-needed computer tips that we can all use (everyone has I.T. departments at work, but what happens when you’re working on something at home?) Judging from the reaction of those in attendance, it was clear everyone has experienced some strange computer snafus at one time or another (sometimes repeatedly), so their advice on avoiding these pitfalls was greatly appreciated! For the benefit of those who missed this great opportunity to consult the experts, their tips are summarized below.

Courtney’s & Joey’s Ten Commandments for Technology

(1) Don’t Cheap Out

It’s better to replace technology more often, as older computers often run slowly, suffer hard drive failures, or do not have the capacity to run the latest programs. Note the approximate lifecycles of these items: laptops 2-3 years; desktops 3-4 years; servers 3 years; laser printers & scanners – indefinite. For toner, they recommend OEM, as secondary or replacement brands may leak.

(2) Always Reboot

Often rebooting solves the problem, as the computer may still be working on an error that you cannot see running on the system. (We’ve always heard this, but now we know why.)

(3) Google It

Almost all technology questions can be answered with a very specific Google search.

(4) Read the FAQs

The Frequently Asked Questions encountered by the manufacturer are usually found on the manufacturer’s website.

(5) Know What You Have

Know your operating system (OS). Windows 7, Windows XP, or Windows Vista? Windows 7 is now the standard. Updates are no longer being issued for XP, but if you have XP, you should make sure you have Service Pack 3 installed. WPA is the secure option for WiFi.

Consider Belarc Advisor. This is a free software advisor that inventories your computer to list what software items you have, including the license numbers. It’s good to run this when you purchase a new computer and again when you make any changes on your computer.

(6) Write It Down

Write down error messages or copy and paste them and use Google to search for the meaning of the error. In Windows 7, you can also use the Snip It! tool. This tool can be found by going to the Start menu, then typing “Snip” in the search box, and it will automatically come up.

(7) Remember Your Passwords

Don’t use the same password for everything. You can use some software programs, such as Robo Form or the web-based Last Pass, which let you remember one password and it then encrypts all of your other passwords to a designated source. You can also save all of your passwords on a flash drive.

SC Bar’s Casemaker Service: Note, there is a new sign-in system for the Casemaker service. Go to the Bar’s homepage at scbar.org, go to Member Log In, then enter your 7-digit Bar number (use zeros at the beginning if your number is less than 7 digits), and then have your password e-mailed to you.

(8) Back Up Regularly

You can use programs such as Core Vault, Carbonite, or Mozy. Another alternative is an external hard drive. IO Safe makes an external hard drive that is advertised as being virtually indestructible, like an airplane’s black box, for about $250. The average external drive is about $125.

(9) Read The Reviews

Before purchasing any technology product, consider product reviews on the websites of Best Buy and other stores, as well as C/Net, ZD net, PCmag.com, and LTN (Law Technology News).

(10) Don’t Stand Naked In An Open Window: The Danger of Free WiFi

Warning: using an unprotected WiFi connection is as described above. Always know what the source is of your connection. Never click an icon that shows two computers connected, that is usually an indication that you are being connected with another computer, not a true WiFi site. It’s best to have an icon showing a cell tower or something similar. Final points to consider:

*Firewall – need this turned on, except at work
*Turn off file sharing
*Use antivirus and antispyware
*Get your own MiFi hot spot

Many thanks to Courtney and Joey for their advice. For further information, please contact them at the SC Bar or view the SC Bar’s website at www.scbar.org.

–Karen Huelson, S.C. Supreme Court

The students file articles of incorporation, draft bylaws, prepare contracts, assist with real estate transactions and copyright matters, and perform a variety of tasks that are necessary for the nonprofit organizations’ operations, even attending board meetings. In addition to receiving three hours of course credit, the clinic allows the students to gain real-world experience prior to graduation. It also benefits the participating organizations, which are often on tight budgets. Professor Cherry stated that, even if a student decides not to pursue similar work upon graduation, it has given the student business skills and has saved the student time in selecting a career path, so it is a win-win situation for all who participate.

Professor Cherry stated the clinic is also a founding partner of the South Carolina Volunteer Lawyers Association for the Arts, which provides pro bono legal services to the arts community, including nonprofit arts organizations and individual artists who have “arts-related legal needs” as defined by the program. The other founding partners are the USC School of Law Pro Bono Program with Pam Robinson, the South Carolina Arts Commission, and the South Carolina Bar’s Pro Bono Program. The association has established a website at http://scvolunteerlawyersforthearts.org.

Many in the audience asked questions about Professor Cherry’s Nonprofit Organizations Clinic, and they were very interested to hear of its formation, as well as the work that Professor Cherry has done with the South Carolina Volunteer Lawyers Association for the Arts to establish viable, innovative legal resources in this state. SCWLA president Liz Zeck, for one, promised to be among those contacting the clinic for future assistance. For more information on the clinic or any of the arts programs, please contact Professor Cherry by phone at (803) 777-3394 or via e-mail at Cherryja@law.sc.edu.

–Karen Huelson

The Midlands Region of SCWLA held its most recent monthly luncheon on Thursday, July 28, 2011 at the Summit Club in Columbia. Judge J. Michelle Childs of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina was our guest speaker on “The Road to Judging,” in which she provided an inside look at the path to becoming a judge. Judge Carolyn Matthews noted in her introduction that “Judge Michelle,” as she called her, had attracted a very large audience, with over 70 in attendance. She stated Judge Childs is a long-time SCWLA member and recited an impressive list of just a sample of her awards: I’m Every Woman TrailBlazers Award (2008); University of South Carolina Moore School of Business Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2005); Columbia Urban League SHEROES Award (2002); and the University of South Carolina Compleat Lawyer Award, Silver Medallion (1997).

Judge Childs gave those present a fascinating mix of real-life experiences and humorous anecdotes describing what she encountered during her tenures as an attorney at a law firm, the Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation’s Division of Labor, a workers’ compensation commissioner, a circuit court judge (including stints as the Chief Administrative Judge for General Sessions and a judge of the Business Court pilot program in the Fifth Judicial Circuit), and, currently, a federal district court judge based in Greenville, South Carolina. Judge Childs, who obtained full scholarships for both college and law school, observed that candidates for judgeships must be not only academically gifted, but must also consider participating in a wide variety of professional organizations and other community groups to reach out to others.

Judge Childs stated she applied the same philosophy in taking the bar exam as she did in running for the circuit court and beyond: “It takes just as much effort to fail as to win, so darn it, I’m going to win!” She laughed as she recited this, noting the important thing to take away is to always approach a challenge with not only hard work, but also a positive attitude. There is no doubt she has this ability. As Judge Matthews noted, Judge Childs always has such a positive energy that she is easy to spot in a crowd. She stated that if she’s at an event and looks around and sees that Judge Childs is there, then she knows she’s in the right place. Judging from the record attendance at the luncheon, everyone agreed. We greatly appreciated Judge Childs’ revealing and candid portrait of all the challenges she has met in her legal career, all of which has made her an outstanding role model for South Carolina’s women lawyers.

–Karen Huelson

-42% of lawyers surveyed agree or strongly agree they worked “when too distressed to be effective.”

-39% indicated they met the criteria for burnout.

-34.7% men and 29.2% women had binge-drinking episode in past month.

-incidence of substance abuse is as much as double the national average.

-approximately 25% report depression (10% of general population report depression).

-28.5% report “drinking is part of being a lawyer.”

-67% are somewhat or extremely worried about the future.

-42% take work home daily or frequently.

-20% entered profession with difficult history (childhood abuse/substance abuse by parent).

Other research shows:
-25% of lawyers report elevated psychological distress including feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, anxiety, social alienation and isolation. (Benjamin Sells, “Facing the Facts About Depression in the Profession,” Florida Bar News, March 1995).

-Lawyers report high rates of pessimism and perfectionism. (Lynn Johnson, Stress Management, Utah State Bar Journal, Jan/Feb 2003).

-Lawyers are more likely to suffer from depression than those in other professions and nearly 4 times more likely than the average. (Johns Hopkins, 1990).

-Male lawyers are two times more likely to commit suicide than men in the general population. (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Healthy, 1992).

SC Lawyer Assistance Program: Lawyers Helping Lawyers
About thirty years ago a group of SC lawyers began meeting and called their organization Lawyers Caring about Lawyers. They had the purpose of supporting each other and other attorneys who were experiencing troubles with addiction. About ten years ago they reorganized and renamed the program Lawyers Helping Lawyers (“LHL”).

LHL has four purposes:

1. to protect the interests of the general public and clients from harm caused by lawyers and judges impaired by substance abuse or depression;

2. to protect the integrity of the legal profession from harm caused by lawyers and judges impaired by substance abuse or depression;

3. to educate the bench and bar about the causes and remedies for substance abuse or depression within the profession; and

4. to provide help to lawyers and judges who suffer from substance abuse and or depression.

About 150 lawyers per year have some degree of contact with LHL.

Current services offered by LHL include assessment, referral to counseling/treatment, mentoring, monitoring and assisting with Bar application process for 1st time admissions.

Current goals of LHL include the reestablishing of support groups for impaired lawyers, creating a presence in both law schools and increasing the number of referrals.

Lawyers are usually hitting or approaching a “bottom” when they call LHL. A significant number of attorneys develop a high sense of well-being by way of addiction recovery. 7.9% of lawyers surveyed in the Work and Well-Being Study reported being recovered or in recovery.

Resources for Support:
Robert Turnbull, Director of Lawyers Helping Lawyers, can be reached on the toll-free helpline at 866-545-9590 or at 803-603-3807.

Beth Padgett, Assistant Director of Lawyers Helping Lawyers, can be reached at 803-240-6526.

LifeFocus Counseling Services can be reached at 866-726-5252. They provide referral to a counselor in the area.

All calls and all information are confidential.

A Simple Strategy for Increased Well-being – Mindfulness

Mindfulness is defined as:

-“an awareness that is non-judging, friendly, and does not seek to add or subtract anything from the experience before it. Mindfulness arises as one pays attention, on purpose, in an allowing, accepting way to inner and outer experience unfolding in the present moment. Mindfulness is not limited to rigid or formulaic methods of meditation, but is available to be experienced in each moment and with every breath.”

-“commitment to reside as best one can from moment to moment in awareness with an open heart, a spacious, non-judging, non-reactive mind, and without trying to get anywhere.” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, 2003)

Much research has been conducted over the past 4 years on mindfulness practice and its effects on the brain, mind and body. Key components of recent research have shown:

-improvement in executive attention.

-improvement in ability to recognize, name and control emotions.

-improvement in self-awareness.

-improvement of sleep quality. (Winbush, Gross, and Kreitzer, 2007).

People with higher levels of mindfulness report feeling less stressed, anxious and depressed. They also report feeling more joyful, inspired, grateful, hopeful, content, vital and satisfied with life. (Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer and Toney, 2006).

Therapeutic effect has been shown on many stress-related illnesses including type 2 diabetes, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, low back pain and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

People trained in mindfulness show a better ability to quit smoking, decrease binge eating and reduce alcohol and illicit substance use. (Greeson, 2008)

A Moment of Practice
From “Mindfulness Neuroscience and the Lawyer’s Brain” (Scott Rogers, Negotiation Insight Wisdom, April 2009)

• Sit in a comfortable position.

• Keep your back straight but not rigid.

• Rest your hands on your knees, thighs or in your lap.

• Close or lower your eyes and bring awareness to your breathing.

• Follow your breath for a few moments, observing it with curious interest.

• Move awareness from the breath to your mind, watching the coming and going of thoughts.

• You may notice a busy mind, a restless mind, or a quiet mind.

• Watch your thoughts arise, letting them come and go.

• If you find yourself distracted, or you mind wandering, that’s okay. That is what the mind does. What’s amazing is that you notice it and that you have a choice what to do next.

• After you notice your mind’s wandering, bring awareness back to your breathing.

• After a few breaths, move awareness to your thoughts and observe your mind.

• At the end of the practice, whether 2 minutes or 20, smile and savor the moment.

Support for Everyday Mindfulness:
Slow down.

Talk less.

When you can (or when you will) do just one thing at a time. Reduce multitasking.

Focus on your breath while doing daily activities.

Relax into a calm feeling of presence with other people.

Use routine events, such as the phone ringing, having a drink of water, cranking the car engine, as reminders to return yourself to a sense of centeredness. Take a couple deep breaths before you pick up the phone.

At meals, take a moment to reflect on where the food came from. Imagine where the vegetables grew, where the grains grew and the people who were involved.

–Beth Padgett